American has joined United in using an algorithm to determine when to hold flights at hubs and for how long. In a customer friendly move, they will also tell you they are holding the flight and for exactly how long.

Delta...crickets.

https://viewfromthewing.com/american...-wait-for-you/

I haven't found this to be true. Ever.

I was stiffed four times by United - last time was March 2024 - due to their MX issues. Blown APU on an A319 cost us 65 minutes on departure, then ducks or geese crossing runway cost us 5 minutes in IAH.
I sprinted across IAH - couldn't feel my right leg - and door was closed D-12 (minutes).

To add insult to injury, the later flight was delayed due to ... mechanical.

I got nothing from United. Nothing.
Except an employee put on leave.

I’m not sure you understand. United’s Connection Saver takes into account numerous factors to determine whether to hold a flight and for how long. That doesn’t mean United will hold your flight every time. But at least they have a dedicated system to make that decision and will inform customers in their app. Seems like good business to me.

Not sure you understand.
My connection was boarded and door locked 15 minutes PRIOR to departure time. Final destination was LAS, which is not a United hub.
Even though I was inbound and was a known quantity. Paid for economy+ or whatever they call it. First row of coach.

I have zero trust for UAL. I've flown 700k+ miles (butt in seat) and will never fly again.
Gordon Bethune was a family friend. Scott Kirby can pound salt.

are we still doing this? you keep acting like this is some special thing that delta never does, despite the fact that we have just as many anecdotal reports of delta doing as UA or AA. Delta also has a "system" to "make that decision" and pretending like they don't is a choice you can make, I guess, but it doesn't make any sense at all.

which is exactly what is supposed to happen

I suspect AA holds last flights more than DL, but that’s just anecdote. However, I thought Gary’s article was interesting as it hedges the benefit to 2,000 passengers in total AND that it still wants agents to close the doors by D0 except in rare, centrally identified, scenarios.

Perhaps it’s real and truly customer friendly. Perhaps it’s PR. We’ll see. Selfishly, I prefer the plane be on time since I live at the hub… I’ve been stuck on too many “held” last flights on AA that resulted in me arriving 30+ min late, at an already late hour. It’s been years, but I’m not interested.

I've seen DL hold flights for connecting pax and/or bags, although it seems to be at the discretion of the captain. Far too often GAs are trying to close the door 10+ min early and then have the plane just sit there waiting those 10 min for pushback.

yeah especially when they screw inbound passengers.
and that’s exactly why an employee got reprimanded. Because she do what she do.

good news - united captain on the a319 lied and said it was a “fuel issue” at ATL instead of APU (united maintenance fault).

So my screenshots got a captain in trouble, too!

As an airline pilot, I have ZERO expectation that any US carrier, be it DL, AA, AS, UA, etc will hold a flight for me if my inbound is late and I’m traveling as a regular pax. Doesn’t matter if it’s the last flight of the night or if there’s dozens of us running from the same flight. Too many variables at play (crew duty, aircraft needed for down line flight, D0/A14 metrics, etc). And ultimately GAs could care less and just want the flight out so they don’t get in trouble. They aren’t even the ones that have to rebook folks (it’s either auto rebooking or punt off to the customer service desk or 1-800 number). I just don’t expect it to happen. Period. That’s why I don’t book tight connections to minimize the risk fully understanding things sometimes just happen.

Now if it’s an Asian carrier in a hub I might have a slight hope the flight would be held because of their generallly better customer service culture. But it’s still a crapshoot.

Again, all said as a pilot that sees this happen almost daily, even on those last flights of the night to an outstation.

I was briefly shocked by this story because I initially thought you were talking about pre-merger USAir. They would NEVER wait for a passenger. They would just laugh at the stranded pax at the gate as they rolled off. But yeah--pre-merger AA, I could see it.

So many variables, and I haven't confirmed this with Delta Operations Control Center, but based on personal observation I'll offer this:

-Is it the last trip of the day for that aircraft/crew? Or does that aircraft or crew need to make another run that would also be delayed.
-Is the crew close to max time?
-Are there very many passengers involved? I recall 29 of us connecting in MSP for LGA last flight of the day, and the flight waited.
-How much of a delay would happen if the flight is held? Are we talking 20 minutes or 60 minutes?

Not sure if it still works this way, but it used to be the gate agent could see a list of connecting passengers with yellow highlighting or pink highlighting. Yellow meant on the ground and likely to connect. Pink - fugheddaboutit.

I think one of the biggest improvements to US airline regulation would be to require an iron-clad "duty of care" over a certain number of hours delayed. The actual cash payout isn't as big of an issue for me, but requiring airlines to take care of passengers no matter what from the time their initial flight until deplaning at their final destination would do a lot to align airline and customer priorities.